How Zhi Qi (21S24)

How Zhi Qi’s love for illustrative art began from a tender age, when she realised she could depict the beauty of the world right before her eyes with her very own hands. Her love for the art unfolded and saw her through her formative years in secondary school – where she was “always drawing, at every possible moment”. She fondly remembers how she would be drawing – in the classroom, at the canteen, during breaks while her friends played in the school field – literally anytime, anywhere. Her teachers, classmates, family and friends – “they all became subjects of fascination and scrutiny for me, and I wanted to recreate them in the most beautiful and unique ways possible”, she muses. Zhi Qi then chose to offer Art as a subject at the GCE O Level Examination not because she was good at it and could score, but simply because she wanted to continue doing something she truly loved and enjoyed.

Zhi Qi, who had an equal interest in both the Arts and the Sciences could have chosen to pursue a different educational trajectory. Nonetheless, she set her heart on enrolling into Jurong Pioneer Junior College (JPJC). A subject presentation on H2 Art by art teacher Ms Aini Azidah Bt Haja Maideen, had resonated so much with her that she was willing to take the path less trodden and offer a hybrid subject combination comprising H2 Physics, H2 Mathematics, H2 Art and H1 Economics, rather than close the chapter on her illustrative art journey. “To be honest, I was open, and even at this very point in my life as we speak, am still open to leaving art behind. To me, while I do love art, and this has never changed, I believe our life paths change and take a different course as we grow and mature, so I was really ready to take on other subjects”, she recalls. However, Ms Aini’s sharing spoke to her soul, and the H2 Art syllabus and its aims was everything that she wanted to experience, at that point in time. Despite challenges, especially in terms of a hectic JC timetable and the demanding hours of commitment H2 Art required as a subject, Zhi Qi’s passion and perseverance paid off, with various meaningful and significant milestones for her occurring during the JC chapter of her life. Zhi Qi was the first Art student in the history of JPJC to produce a purely digital painting as part of her GCE A Level H2 Art coursework submission.

In line with her philosophy of growth and taking the path less trodden, Zhi Qi is admirable in her tenacity and passion in pursuing her love for art, while broadening her horizons in terms of the subjects she offered at the GCE A Level in JPJC. Even as she enjoyed Physics, Mathematics and Economics in college, and was “intrigued and engaged in the new skills and intellectual discussions in these domains at a higher level”, she always came home, to her first love – art. Throughout her JC journey, Zhi Qi continued to work and build her portfolio as a freelance artist, juggling her studies and this budding profession commendably. In particular, she was commissioned by a bubble tea business, WhatTea, based in Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 2022 to design the menu for their store.

Zhi Qi attributes her growth and success as a budding artist to her strong support system – her parents, who gave her unconventional aspirations and dreams their blessings and full support from the beginning; her enriching and broad-based educational experiences in secondary school and JC (as wide-ranging as to include music and martial arts, as part of enrichment programmes and regular academic subject lessons); the excellent mentoring and inspiration provided by Ms Aini who taught her H2 Art; and the Education & Career Guidance (ECG) provided by JPJC’s in-house ECG counsellor Ms Michelle Lee, even beyond graduation from the college. “In an environment and system as conducive as this, and with like-minded individuals surrounding me, I was able to bloom, and I never felt like the odd one out chasing an unconventional or alternative path”, Zhi Qi shares. In terms of academic support and the opportunities for intellectual growth, Zhi Qi expresses her gratitude for her subject tutors in JPJC, in particular, Ms Aini. “The time she spent with the art cohort, even beyond regular lesson and school hours, to share with us her experience as an art practitioner, and to spar with us on art theory, really stays with me in my mind as something that was fuel; inspiration for my own practice”. Being able to forge strong bonds with a small cohort of peers offering H2 Art was also a strong bonus, because it allowed Zhi Qi to truly experience an exchange of ideas and a meeting of minds with peers who shared similar artistic visions. “One of our peers even helped to tutor us in art theory whenever we met, and all of us really shared our knowledge selflessly – this, I think, is the best memory which also embodies the spirit of my JPJC journey which I remember most fondly”, Zhi Qi warmly quips.

With such support, Zhi Qi has been able to venture this far and further, even initially delving into the possibility of pursuing a career in digital animation and gaming, and setting her sights on further professional training and education, even beyond Singapore, in the UK. In this aspect, Zhi Qi’s chameleon-like ability to adapt and change her plans according to where life takes her is commendable, as always. When she met JPJC’s ECG counsellor Ms Michelle Lee, she had wanted to pursue an art degree. Under the guidance of Ms Lee, Zhi Qi was able to explore overseas education options, look for internship opportunities and see clearly for herself what an art education and related future careers entailed. And it was with this fateful step, that Zhi Qi realised, she did not really want to pursue an art degree, and would not require such qualifications to work in fields involving animation and game design. Instead, she has now decided she can and should keep her options open, and consider other disciplines such as sociology and psychology, while still continuing to develop her own portfolio and skills in illustrative art. “For me, it was then that I realised, yes, it is more important for me to enjoy learning, just like how I did in JC, for it to be fruitful, even if I do not carve out a career in the same field in the end”, she reflects.

“Fruitful, enriching and memorable” – these were words that Zhi Qi used to describe what her time in JPJC entailed for her. While touching on the subject of her passion and her personal development during and beyond her two years at JPJC, Zhi Qi also shared her heartfelt appreciation for the rest of her subject tutors – each and every one of them, “from Mr Toh Weiming, Ms Shasila, to Mr Oh and Mr Poh – people may think it is not much that our teachers are doing, but when I look back on the quiet but firm support they lent to me and my classmates especially during trying times in each academic year, I cannot express enough how thankful I am. JC can be an emotional rollercoaster, and there have been challenges regarding school work, friendship dynamics; but every one of them, and Ms Aini too, have been there for me and my classmates in their own special ways”. Zhi Qi also credits all her tutors’ objective and open-minded approach in educating students, in cultivating an open, confident mindset towards her own ECG pathways and prospects. “They were never ‘judge-y’ when it came to us being unsure of our further education or career paths, or when some of us had more supposedly ‘unconventional’ paths we might have wanted to consider”, Zhi Qi recalls. Whenever she had doubts and shared these concerns regarding her future prospects with them, they were always ready to advise her without bias, and also direct her to Ms Michelle Lee for more in-depth discussions and steps where necessary.  

While her journey of personal growth and professional development as an artist has taken her on and off familiar paths, in search of yet another better version of herself, JPJC has, and always will be her home; her comfort zone that has also provided her familiarity and assurance, while at the same time allowing her to reach this far, and further.